Danko Jones Discusses His First Guitars and Admiration for Eddie Van Halen

Singer-guitarist Danko Jones and his band were recently confirmed for this year’s Uproar Festival after wrapping up an early 2013 tour with Volbeat. These new dates will find the group continuing to support their latest album 'Rock and Roll Is Black and Blue.'

Loudwire had the opportunity to chat with Jones during his stop in New York (see photos of the gig here) and he spoke candidly about his early years with music and the first time he picked up a guitar. “I was 6 and I didn’t want to take piano lessons and my mom insisted that to be a well rounded person you have to have music lessons which I didn’t agree with so she tried the guitar for a little while," recalled Jones. "The acoustic guitar hurt my fingers as a 6-year-old so I quickly gave that up."

He continued, “When I got into rock music, I got an electric guitar for Christmas. It was a blue Squier Fender Stratocaster that I later sold, maybe 15 years ago because I needed rent money -- 200 bucks. I felt no attachment to it to be honest with you. I didn’t like it so I had no problems parting with it -- it’s somewhere out there.”

Even though he wasn’t too fond of the acoustic guitar, he described his interest in the electric guitar. “When I played the electric guitar that was more of a feeling because I was so into rock music and being able to hold an electric guitar was a big deal. Although, I really wanted drums but that wasn’t going to happen in my parents’ house. It would have definitely swayed in favor of drums if I had an opportunity," explained Jones. "It was just the guitar – I really like Eddie Van Halen and I got into Van Halen and rock music so it wasn’t a compromise.”

You can find Jones and his electric guitar rocking on the Uproar Festival this summer. The full itinerary can be found here.